Mob kills landlord as he rallies tenants for meeting

The police in Mityana District have intensified the hunt for people who reportedly killed a landlord in the municipality on Wednesday afternoon.
Muhammad Kamada Kimbugwe,50, met his death as he distributed copies of letters to tenants occupying his one-square mile piece of land covering four villages of Minaana, Kabule, Galabi and Kamuvole, all located in Tamu Division, Mityana Municipality.
The letters were inviting the tenants for a meeting set for August 13.
But barely done with the issuance to eight households in Minaana Village, where he also lived, Kimbugwe was attacked.
Mr Norbert Ochom, the Wamala Regional Police spokesperson, said by telephone on Friday that Kimbugwe’s body had deep cuts on the head and neck.
“We have so far arrested three people, including the Minaana village chairperson. These suspects are believed to have attended a private meeting where residents planned to attack Kimbugwe. We believe these people have information which will be useful in investigations,” he said.
Mr Ochom said their findings indicate Kimbugwe had no intention of evicting the nearly 500 tenants on the land, but wanted them to regularise their tenancy.
Mityana Resident District Commissioner Isha Ntumwa said he had advised Kimbugwe against delivering the letters himself when he talked to him on the fateful day.
“He [Kimbugwe] came to my office at around midday yesterday [Wednesday] and I asked him to give me the letters and I deliver on his behalf. Unfortunately, he refused to buy my idea, saying I would delay the letters and he walked out. I was shocked to receive information at 2.30am that he [Kimbugwe] had been killed,” he said.
The planned meeting was reportedly expected to be attended by State Minister for Lands Persis Namuganza.
Ms Namuganza did not respond to our repeated calls to her known telephone contacts yesterday to comment on the matter. Land has become a sticky issue in many districts in central Uganda where wealthy people with land titles are evicting poor tenants from what they call their ancestral land, claiming they are illegally settled on the land.
In the process of trying to repossess their land, many landlords have been chased away by angry tenants and in some instances the landlords have been lynched.

Previous incidents

In August 2009, a landlord, Sam Kubo, who tried to sell his land despite protests from his tenants, was lynched and his body set ablaze in Kayonza Sub-county, Kayunga District.
In December 2015, five landlords in Kiboga District were also lynched by tenants as they gathered for a meeting at the home of Kulwayo Village chairperson Sande Kiguli. The meeting was intended to introduce a new landlord whom they had sold the land to. The tenants saw the meeting as a ploy to evict them from their land.
Police identified the deceased as Bosco Mugisha, Paul Bukenya, Charles Matovu Dominic, Mugambe Asiime and Swalih Mukunya.
The angry mob also set on fire vehicles of the landlords.